A 2-0 home defeat against Southampton may not be a good result, but manager Dougie Freedman has plenty to be excited about.

Which other Championship team could boast six home grown players in their matchday squad?

Seventeen-year-old Kyle da Silva made a promising debut while England Under 17 captain Ryan Inniss’s presence on the bench gave a sniff of what might be in the future.

For most of the game, Palace, who are 16th in the table, gave as good as they got. The only difference was the League leaders had Rickie Lambert, whose double gave him 30 goals for the season, while Palace “lacked a cutting edge” as Freedman put it.

Palace’s best chances were created through those academy stars. Da Silva forced Saints keeper Kelvin Davis into the save of the match before Lambert’s opener and, on the stroke of half time, Sean Scannell and Wilfried Zaha’s good work was wasted when Chris Martin blazed over from eight yards.

No wonder relieved Saints boss Nigel Adkins said: “Dougie’s done a fantastic job. It’s a good formation they play, hard to break down. They have some young, talented players, the future’s bright for Palace and Dougie.”

Freedman said: ‘Kyle’s a pleasure to work with. He’s been knocking on the door for two months.”

If Freedman keeps the majority of his squad together, he knows what he must do — find that rarest of rarities, a natural scorer . . . like Lambert.